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SPECIAL RIGHTS OF COASTAL STATES

Papua New Guinea said that special rights should be granted to coastal States on a regional basis only. Canada said that the Chair's paper does not deal with the special rights of coastal States and we should ask for no more than the application of modalities that will ensure that stocks management is compatible on both sides of the EEZ limit.

Norway associated itself with the inclusion of coastal States' interests. They were not included in the 1982 Convention but were in the 1958 Convention. In both conventions, there was reference to distant fishing "rights" but not "special rights". The difference is that coastal States also have duties that are not mentioned in the 1958 Convention.

Chile mentioned the complicated history of special rights in the Law of the Sea negotiations and warned against a selective reading of the Convention. India and Sierra Leone supported the rights of coastal States. Korea said it is impossible to infer special rights for coastal States from the Convention. Article 89 says that no State can subject the high seas to its sovereignty.